quote "I was happy to see Peter reveal how much a room steward gets paid. We at Cruisemates have always contended that these people are well paid by the standards of their nations of origin, and that they are very happy in their jobs, although many cruise industry critics try to paint the practice of hiring third world workers as exploitation. Peter reveals that their monthly salary is even higher than I estimated, and he doesn't mention that the cruise line pays all their rent, food, medical care and utilities. He does confirm that their salary is almost pure profit, and that many of these people are supporting entire families on their paychecks."

This is in reference to an upcoming program revealing cruise line finances.
When I was onboard a Carnival ship recently, I saw a busboy who appeared not terribly motivated, to say the least. (He wasn't the only one, I later noticed) On a hunch, I asked him, "Are you a Cruise Line Employee, or do you work for someone else?" He said he, and many like him on the ship, work for an agency which recruited him in India, trained him, and sent him to work on the ship. There were indeed a TON of Indians working on this ship.
I seriously doubt this "contract worker" is paid the same as a bon-fide employee of the Cruise Line, and his lack of interest in his job seemed to bear this out. Being recruited in India, I bet his salary would be more along Indian standards: pennies an hour. The "agency" keeps the dollars.

Maybe we'll learn more from watching Greenberg's special on Tuesday evening. Inasmuch as he's never been one to pull any punches, maybe we'll get some answers.

Donna, you're absolutely right, it IS a tough job and Heaven knows, you're away from family and friends for months at a time. That is why I tip so generously.

But then again, virtually all seafarers, be they Navy or Merchant Marine, are away from their families often for months at a time as well and while American Navy and Merchant Mariners are paid more than their counterparts on ships under other flags, they definitely aren't paid anywhere nearly enough. That being said, if those on cruiseships were paid wages commensurate with those paid Americans crewing on US registered vessels, there would be no cruise industry at all.

But then again, virtually all seafarers, be they Navy or Merchant Marine, are away from their families often for months at a time as well and while American Navy and Merchant Mariners are paid more than their counterparts on ships under other flags, they definitely aren't paid anywhere nearly enough. That being said, if those on cruiseships were paid wages commensurate with those paid Americans crewing on US registered vessels, there would be no cruise industry at all.

Unfortunately, you don't get paid anything when you don't have work because your union demands wages that simply are not competitive. And that's exactly why there are virtually NO ocean-going ships sailing under the U. S. flag.

But the reality is that the U. S. Merchant Marine has some of the most powerful unions in the nation, and what business it has pays about two to three times the rate for comparable work on land. This is the union that won enactment of both the Jones Act governing shipment of goods from one port of the United States and another and the Passenger Services Act governing transport of passengers from one U. S. port to another. There's no discussion of repealing either of these laws because NO member of Congress on either side of the aisle is about to cross these unions.